James' Blog

So, last week, I progressed in my career. I was in my previous, and first, job for over two years - first as an apprentice and then as a full time staff member. Whilst in this job, I learnt a lot. It gave me the experience I needed to move onto something better. I want to encourage others to always be on the look out for new opportunities. For one, always look at what other employers in your industry are paying people in similar roles. My former employer was underpaying me, and continues to underpay its staff, given what recruiters have told me. So, make sure to keep comparing your salary with others. Moving on could really benefit you, as it has me. No names to be named, but the pay I was on was awful - and the company should be ashamed for paying people such horrendous pay for the jobs that they do. It’s despicable. Secondly, don’t move on too quickly unless you really need to. You should stay in a job for a year or two, unless something really bad happens that means that you can’...

Given the situation with COVID-19 I thought now would be a decent time to talk about how lockdown has been for me, so that you can compare to how it has been for you. Working from home Even before the lockdown I was working from home - we started the week before Boris announced the lockdown. I found that it was easy for me to adapt to as I had worked from home previously, however not for as long as the lockdown of course. The lockdown itself has been a long and boring time, and working from home has definitely kept me occupied during the days. I have been working my usual hours, relying on remote connections. Boris Walks Ah yes, the good old Boris Walk. A key part of the lockdown was how people were describing the walks that they were going on during the lockdown. I did many of these, going out most days depending on the weather. I found that these were useful because otherwise I would have been sitting at a screen for months on end without actually going out and getting fresh air. Sit...

Do you have a hobby? Do you want to share things with the world? A personal website for you, your family, or a small group of friends with shared interests is a great way to acheive this. I'd like to go through some of the things that you might want in such a website. Simple Design Everyone has been on websites that are confusing. Clumsy layouts, hidden links, overuse of advertising. The best way to keep an audience is to keep it simple. Make it clear where links to pages are and where the content is - and don't over do it with ads (if you do, people are less likely to come back). Using Wordpress, or one of my templates, you can create a website that is a breeze to navigate, and that your audience will want to come back to. And they'll want to recommend it to their friends and family too. A blog A blog is a great way to keep your audience engaged. Make posts about the topic of your website, give them updates on your projects and more. They'll want to come back...

Following on from my previous post talking about the changes that I have made to the Jadweb Studio software since the release of 2020 r1, I also feel that it is appropriate to talk about how I go about testing my software, just to give you more of an insight. Newest Windows Versions I test my software on the latest version of Windows all the time. I develop using Windows 10 and I have multiple devices that I can test on - a desktop and more than one laptop. This ensures compatibility with the different versions of Windows (my devices don't all have the same release of Windows 10 on). Old laptop and virtual machines I have recently acquired an early 2000s Dell Latitude laptop. This allows me to test the software on Windows XP. I use virtual machines for testing software on Windows Vista and Windows 7. So, there is a small insight into a how I do software testing.

As you may have noticed, the Jadweb website now directs to my main website. However, the software pages will be remaining on the Jadweb domain. I am doing this so that I don't have to focus as much on maintaining two websites that in some ways overlap. This gives me additional time to develop Studio and give it new features. Since the 2020 r1 release I have changed a few things around. In the r1 release, for example, the snippets were accessed from their own window. This has now been changed so that there is a sidebar where these are accessed. This will make accessing the snippets simpler. Not only that, I have now made all of the included templates as well as the code provided when "New" is selected contain code that forces all versions of IE to render using the latest version possible. This was due to an issue with the preview window, which uses an embedded control and unless forced will run in an IE7 only mode. This new code forces it to run as the latest version i...

As the world is currently in uncertain times, I thought it would be suitable to make a post about the coronavirus pandemic. I personally, as of Saturday, will bbe staying in mostly - I may go to the shop, or walk to the park on a Sunday evening when it is quiet, but I am staying away from crowds of people. As it is, I am already working from home and have experienced first hand the amount of people that are now working from home. Now, as is well known, I travel a lot and I am stopping that until we are through this pandemic. I want to ensure that key workers, as well as those that don't have the option to work from home, are given the best possible chance at safety. This is something that I recommend all do and everyone keeps as safe as possible. In the meantime, what to do whilst at home practicing social distancing? Well, use social media - keep in touch essentially, whilst doing a mix of learning, playing games and working on indoor hobbies (oh, and working). Anyway guys...

Yet again, it seems like I haven't posted in forever! So, in my latest post I will be talking about my custom desktop PC. Now, I didn't build this myself as I was on a budget - however it is a brand new PC. I purchased it in March and it arrived two weeks later. I purchased it from AWD-IT. Now, first things first, when I take you through the specifications you are going to notice one thing very clearly. It has an AMD CPU. This is something that I would never have considered for a brand new computer in the past, however I had to due to the budget that I was on. In addition to the AMD CPU, it also has an AMD Radeon GPU. Clearly a very AMD based machine then, isn't it. Specs: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6 Core CPU 16GB of  Memory AMD Radeon  RX580 from PowerColor with 8GB of VRAM. 512GB SSD 1TB HD (taken from my old desktop PC) So, how does it feel to be using a brand new desktop PC? Well, firstly, I have never actually owned one before. I have owned brand new laptops, but ...

Hello all. I'd like to tell you what I have started to do at the weekend because it may be useful for you, too, if you often find yourself bored on a Saturday because you have so much time and you are not sure what to do. With me, it partly arises from the fact that at the weekend I am at my dads and when I am at my dads I do not have access to my desktop PC and therefore there are a lot of things that I am unable to do because I don't want to do these things on my laptop for a number of reasons. Anyway, what I have been doing for the last few months is travelling. I have been going places on weekends for a while now, but it was a thing that I did every few months instead of once or twice a month. Over the last 6 months or so I have been to new places and I have also been back to places that I have been to before but hadn't been to for absolutely ages. So, where have I been? Bristol London Portsmouth Brighton Crawley Leamington Spa Some of these places are, ...

Well, this is my first post in quite a while and I would like to wish you all a happy new year. A lot happened in 2018 for me, from completing my A Levels and leaving school, getting my first job, staying in a hotel for the first time and visiting new places such as London, Portsmouth and Brighton. I have had my ups and downs in 2018, as I am sure a lot of us have, however 2019 is a new year and it is time to start a new slate and see what 2019 brings us. I hope that 2019 has just as many good memories for me as as 2018 has, and I hope this is the case for you to. We have just one year left of this decade and it feels as though 2010 and 2011 were just yesterday - but they were 9 and 8 years ago respectively. This decade has flown by and as it's the last year of the decade it would be great to make the most of the last year and make as many great memories as possible. So, I wish you all a happy new year. I also hope that you have all had a fantastic Christmas too.

Yes, you read the blog title correctly - I have acquired another laptop. It's a rarity for me too - it's a HP and not a Dell. I would've bought myself a Dell of the same spec but they were actually way out of my budget in comparison to this - even though I was looking at laptops from 2015. Anyway, I am now the owner of a HP EliteBook 840 G2. It's a nice laptop given its age, and the keyboard is surprisingly good given that it's a HP, as I am not normally a fan of HP keyboards. Although, I will say, the home, page up, page down and end keys are in a layout that I am not a fan of really. Anyway, a full review will be coming soon - right here on my blog. So keep your eyes peeled!

Hello all You may remember that a few weeks ago I was talking about DHL and them delivering my phone. Well, I got my phone last Friday and honestly I am so happy with it. It is the best phone that I have ver owned in my life. It is fast, it looks great, the camera is amazing quality and it's a really enjoyable experience. I had known for over a year that when I had the money I was going to buy a OnePlus. Once I got my job, I knew it would be one of the first htings I bought, especially considering the fact that I was having issues with my old Samsung and its charging connector. As it was my first payslip, I hadn't worked for a full month and therefore didn't get a full month's pay. As a result, I was unable to buy the top of the line model with more RAM and storage space, but for me I am very, very pleased with what I purchased. The phone came almost a month after I ordered it, due to delivery issues, and when I new that it had arrived, I was extremly happy becaus...

Hi all Just thought i'd post a little article about eaving school and the world of work, and how it has gone for me so far. I left school officially in May and had my last exam in June. I started work in August, when I got myself an apprenticeship. So, what's it like? I found it quite easy actually. Maybe that's because the apprenticeship does have a classroom part where we are at the training academy/college once a week for training. We also have exams there and my first one is just over a week. So I am going to be doing some revision over the next week. When you first start, you may find it to be a little bit daunting, however after a week or two it's fine, especially once you have settled in with your working enviroment and your colleagues. You'll feel at home very quickly, and feel as though you can easily ask your colleagues for help - especially considering that fact that you are a new employee but also because you are new to the world of work. I do ha...

Hi all. If you've bee on my YouTube channel over the last few months, you may remember that I said I was hoping to start it back up again at some point. Well, I still am, but I need your help and advice. For me to start it up again, I need ideas fo videos to actually create. I work on a budget, so anything that is going to cost me a lot of money isn't possible - but I really need your ideas. I could continue with the Windows History series, however I am having issues with finding a microphone that is decent enough for screen recordings - so, that's something else I could do with some recommendations for. If you can suggest one - please do. So, please let me know what you want. Your suggestions are valued, and if they are for things I can physically do, I will do my best to actually try to create the content that you want me to create. Thanks, James

Hey all! As most of you know, I did A Level Media Studies at school. The media blog is available online, and all of the posts are also available on this blog. Anyway, my sister was looking for my trailer on Youtube, when she came across a video that effectively turns it into a Plantsbrook meme. Below, I will embed the original video and the 'meme' version. The meme version is based on one of my characters, that is also a deputy head and was my media teacher - Mr Farr. Original Meme

This post is largely related to the previous post on this blog. Anyway, DHL Express has a complaints page when you can contact the main customer services manager at DHL online. We did this last night, and she responded very quickly. The next day we had a call from DHL saying that the parcel had been marked as unretrievable and that hopefuly we will be able to get a new one shipped. On top of this, they have offered to refund all of the charges incurred whilst calling them. Anyway, it's really easy to contact DHL's Customer Service manager. The screenshots below show you where to go.

On the 31st August, I ordered myself a new phone. It was due for delivery on Wednesday, which then changed to Tuesday. Anyway, Tuesday comes and I get an email at around 16:38 - my phone had been signed for (obviously but a relative, as I was at work). Anyway, when I left work at 17:00, I checked and it turned out that it hadn't been delivered. When I got home I called DHL to see what was happening and they couldn't get hold of the driver. Anyway, for the rest of the week, I called DHL once a day to find out if there had been any updates - but nothing. I kept getting told I would have to wait - even though I had spent £476 on that. On top of that, the calls cost 7p plus a 63p connection charge per minute. By the end of the week, we had spent £24 on phone calls (as the line is not a normal free line). On Monday, I was told again that the driver wasn't in work. The call dropped as I hit my limit although they did call me back to allow us to finish the call. DHL need to re...

Those of you that have seen my Youtube channel will know that I am quite fond of buying second hand laptops. Well, I hadn't bought one since 2016, but the tea incident (see my last post) gave me a reason to buy a new one. I chose a Dell Latitude E6440. I am fond of Dell Latitudes, I've owned second hand ones - a D410, an E6400, an E6510 and an E5400 - and my main laptop is actually a Dell Latitude 5000 series. I know that they're reliable and easy to maintain, which is the  main  reason that I went for one. Anyway, my first thoughts are below. The first thing that really sprung to mind when thinking about writing this post is the keyboard. I love it. I'm actually writing this post using the laptop for that very reason. I find that it I can type very quickly on it - quicker than on my main laptop in fact. In additon, like my main laptop, this has a backlit keyboard. I have actually found the backlit keyboard on this one, even though it is at least 3 years old, to be be...

This is a little story of mine, with which I hope to ensure that nobody else has the same problem that I had. Last Sunday, i was on my laptop as usual. I was about to go to bed, so I was saying goodnight to people on Facebook and then getting ready to hibernate my computer, which is what I normally do with my laptops. I had a cup of tea on one of my desks, which I hadn't completely finished drinking and as I went to bed, I left the cup on my desk. I thought nothing of it at the time, but the next day I would realise what a bad mistake this was. The next morning, I woke up at half 6, ready to go to work. It turns out that I had left something at my dads, so I had to go there first before going to work. Anyway, when I got up, and was rushing about, I noticed that my laptop was covered in tea. I thought to myself "that wasn't there when I went to bed, so how did it get there?". All day I was wondering who had done it, and i  was worrying at work that it wouldn't ...

Last week, I recieved my A Level results - like everyone else in England and Wales. A week later, Yr11 students collected their GCSE results. I would like to congratulate everyone who has sat any exams and recieved their results. The main thing is that you try your hardest and remember that it's your result and that you should be proud of your results - whatever it is. There's always  help if you didn't get what you want, and need to change future plans. So, congrats all!

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